According to a new study, children of mothers who are obese before pregnancy or who smoke during pregnancy, have a higher risk of becoming overweight at a very young age.

The researchers also say the condition can be perpetuated as the children get older.

Dr. Pamela J. Salsberry and her colleague Dr. Patricia B. Reagan of Ohio State University, Columbus, had an interest in how pre-pregnancy weight and smoking affected a child’s risk, and also how the risk developed over time.

They wanted to explore whether the development of early childhood overweight was associated with the mothers behaviors.

The two doctors analyzed a database that provided information on height and weight of 3,022 children at three different time points: 2- to 3-, 4- to 5-, and 6- to 7-years old, as well as on the mother’s prenatal factors.

They say they found an association between prenatal maternal weight during pregnancy and overweight development at ages 3 to 4.

Salsberry says that when mothers are overweight there is an increased risk for the child to be overweight.

The results also revealed a link between prenatal smoking and children becoming obese at an early age.

At the next two time periods, the investigators found that if the children were overweight at a young age, they continued to be overweight.

It appears that a child who is overweight at ages 4 or 5 is six times more likely to be overweight at ages 6 to 7.

But a child could also move from not being overweight in the second time point to being overweight in the third time point, and that was linked to the prenatal weight of the mother says Salsberry.

She says children were almost three times more likely to become overweight at this last time point.

According to Salsberry the study has two main implications for the clinical practitioner to consider; women of childbearing age need to be aware that obesity is a risk for them but it is also a risk for their children, and obesity problems start when children are very young.

Salsberry says early intervention is needed if a pattern is being established, or if a family has a clear risk for obesity.

The study is published in the journal Pediatrics, December 2005.